MY MUSIC & ME

OPEN OVERVIEW
Ajakaja Chimuma Ajakaja

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
Every living person is involved in one area of music or the other. In fact, no
person can do without music because it is a principal means of passing
messages across to the souls of individuals. Souls here can be used
interchangeably to mean the senses or minds of any living individual and also
living individuals themselves. Music is the language of the living soul. It is a
universal language that every living soul understands. This is the major reason
why even the young and the old appreciate and even dance to it, no matter the
languages of the lyrics. People enjoy music done in languages other than their
own, even though they may not necessarily understand the meaning of the
wording.
At this point, it is very relevant to know that, the emphasis why we enjoy music
is not basically on the meaning of the wording or lyrics of the songs, but on the
music itself which provides pleasure to our senses. Therefore, music has no
language blockade or barrier, since everybody appreciates its effects.
It may also interest you, to know that music is an Emotional Art. This has
been proven as a fact because it controls people’s feelings. The way people
react to a piece of music at a point in time, depends on the type of music they
are listening to at that particular time. Music can make people to feel so sad or
happy. It can also make people to feel sleepy or energetic. A piece of music can
make an individual desire to fight or make peace. Whereas some, will drive you
into sorrow or having remorse for what you must have done wrong in the past.
This is the reason why in most cases, you can see some people bursting into
tears uncontrollably, when some songs are being played. No doubt, music is
emotional indeed because it controls our moods, feelings and
behaviour!
Music sometimes is a means of expressing culture. You must note here that,
culture refers to how people do things in a particular area. Music is being done
according to what is obtainable in a particular area, so that music varies from
place to place. This is why the kind of music, the Indians do is quite different
from that of the Americans because they have different cultures. In Nigeria, you
will also observe that the music of the Igbos, Hausas and Yorubas are different
from one another and also sound very differently.
It is also of interest again to realize that, music is basically an Intellectual Art.
Just like any other writer, a composer of music is deeply engaged in serious
thinking to achieve success in his composition. The level of the music of a
composer depends on the standard of his mental ability. Playing of
musical instrument or dancing needs accurate calculations to bring everything to
harmony.
Most importantly and fundamentally, music is basically a Performing Art.
Generally, music is designed to be performed on stage or public places. Any part
of music we are into, whether singing, dancing or playing musical instruments,
we do it with a view to attracting someone to listen to or watch the
performance.

DEFINITION OF MUSIC
Etymologically, music comes from the Greek word ‘MOUSIKE’ which means
‘Art of the Muses’. The muses are Zeus’ nine daughters who are seen in the
Greek mythology as the goddesses of music, poetry, art and dance. Let us
consider some definitions of music proffered by some authorities.
• The Cambridge International Dictionary of English defines music as
a pattern of sound made by musical instruments or singing or a combination of
both intended to give pleasure to people listening to it.
• The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (6th Edition) defines
music as sounds that are arranged in a way that is pleasant or exciting to listen
to.
• Some say, it is the arrangement of sound in a pleasing sequence or
combination to be sung or played on instruments. (Anonymous)
It does not matter how different people may view it, one thing worthy of special
note is that, the term music, involves the arrangement of sounds in a pleasant
pattern and tune. That is to say, it has to do with putting different sounds
together in a uniform order, so as to be good to the hearing of people. You will
agree with me that music is a product of sound, this means that music originates
from sound; No Sound, No Music! Sound gives birth to music. Sound is the
mother of music per se.
But it may also shock you to know that not all combination of sounds is regarded
as music. Not all sounds breed music. This is where organized and unorganized
sounds have to be considered.
Organized sound is the sound that has a definite and a regular beat. A sound is
said to be organized when the sound is ordered, in uniform, well-structured and
well-planned, having a definite rise and fall. Whereas, unorganized sound has an
indefinite and irregular beat, uneven and unequal beat, unbalanced and rough
beat, lopsided and imprecise beat!
Therefore, organized sound with definite and regular beat is called Music.
Whereas unorganized sound, with indefinite and irregular beat is called Noise.
So Noise is the direct opposite of Music. Noise and Music are direct
products of sound. So, Sound is the mother of Music and Noise!
So simply put, music is the art of making or combining sounds that are pleasing
to the ear or the combination of sounds in a regular and definite pattern that are
pleasing to the ear. Or better put, music is just an organized sound that is
pleasing when listening to it.
TYPES OF MUSIC
Music is generally grouped into three segments namely;
(1) Vocal, (2) Instrumental and (3) Dance.
VOCAL MUSIC: This is singing with the use of the voice only. For instance,
a cappella songs.
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: This is the type of music that does not involve the
use of the voice in singing. It is purely instrumental work. For instance, Jazz
music.
DANCE MUSIC: This is the type of music made for body expression. It is a
combination of vocal music and instrumental music. This type of music involves
the voice, instruments and Costumes. For instance, our contemporary reggae
and pop music.

CHAPTER II
MUSIC NOTATIONS
Music is done according to the composition of the author. This composition is
being reproduced on paper. Whenever we try to write music in any style on
paper, we are being engaged in music notation. So music notation is
reproducing musical sound in writing. Simply said, music notation is the art of
writing music.
There are several methods of writing music, but for the sake of our basic
understanding, we will consider the most two common methods, namely;
Staff Notation and Sol-fa Notation.
STAFF NOTATION: This is the method of writing musical sound on the staff
using symbols called musical notes. Examples of symbols representing musical
notes on the staff are; ,
SOL-FA NOTATION: This is the most common method of writing music
amongst singers. It is the use of Sol-fa notes to write music. This method is
being used in most of our Churches for Choir practices. It involves the use of the
seven musical sounds namely; do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti, whenever we use
these letters to write musical sounds, it is called Sol-fa Notation.
Simply put sol-fa notation is the method of writing musical sounds with Sol-fa
notes.
Note that, sol-fa notes are represented by the letters, d, r, m, f, s, l and t. Sol-fa
notes are pronounced (do, re, mi:, fa:, so:, la: ti:)
 TERMS IN MUSIC
STAFF: This is also called stave. It consists of five horizontal lines and four
spaces between the lines. The lines and spaces of the staff are counted upward
beginning with the lowest to the highest. Music is written on the lines and
spaces of the staff.

A STAFF F
E
D
C
B
A
G
F
E
NOTE: This is a single sound at a particular level, especially in music or singing
or a written symbol which represents this sound. For instance; Sol-fa notes are;
do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti, while Staff notes are;
KEY: This is a set of musical notes based on one particular note.
KEY SIGNATURE: This is the symbol on a printed piece of music on the staff
that shows the key in which that music is to be played.
CLEF: This is a sign put at the beginning of a line of music on a staff to show
how low or high the notes are. There are basically two types of clefs namely;
Treble clef and Bass clef.

Treble Clef

Bass Clef

RESTS: In music rests are periods without motion during musical performance.
It can be defined as a moment of brief silence in music. It is a temporary
suspension of sounds in music.
SOUND: This is a force that can be heard.
FREQUENCY: This is the thinness or thickness of a sound in music.
OCTAVE: This is the distance between two musical notes that are eight notes
apart. It is made up of eight notes.
SCALE: This is the arrangement of notes in order of their frequency to complete
a circle of eight notes or octave.
RHYTHM: This refers to the movement of music. It is the rise and fall of music.
RHYME: This is the quality shared by words that have the same sound as each
other especially when they are used at the end of lines of music or poetry.
BEAT: This is the regular pulse that ticks like a clock or heart beat in any music
progression.
ACCENT: This is the emphasis or stress given to certain beats in any music
progression.
MODULATION: This is the act of changing from one musical key to another.
LYRICS: These are the words of a song.
LYRICIST: This is a person who writes the words of songs. He is also called a
songster
CHORD: This is three or more musical notes played at the same time. It is a
combination of notes sounded together in harmony.
TONIC: This is the first note of a scale of eight notes.
AD LIBITUM: This is a Latin word which means ‘at one’s pleasure’ It is
commonly abbreviated ‘ad lib’. In music, it is playing or singing without
preparation. This is the art of inventing or delivering words of music without
prior preparation.
REFRAIN: This has to do with lines that are repeated in music. It is a part of a
song that is repeated especially at the end of each verse before the chorus. It
can also be said to mean a couple of lines in a song that is repeated either
before a chorus or before a verse.
CHORUS: This is the part of a song that is repeated after each verse.
VERSE: This is a group of words arranged in regular lines with a pattern of
regular beats. It can also be said to mean a set of lines forming the words to
which the tune of a song is sung.

NAMES AND SYMBOLS OF NOTES ON THE STAFF

BREVE: Double Whole Note

SEMIBREVE: Whole Note
MINIM: Half Note
CROTCHET: Quarter Note
QUAVER: Eight Note
SEMIQUAVER: Sixteenth Note
DEMISEMIQUAVER: Thirty two Note
HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER: Sixty fourth Note

You will appreciate the value of the above notes when you will be studying the
Great staff.
 CHAPTER III

VOCAL HEALTH CARE

When it comes to vocal health care I will like you to think of yourself as an
athlete. Just like a sprinter will warm-up before he actually starts a race. You will
see him stretching and also probably running quite a few short sprints before he
actually starts the proper race. And also, I am very sure that the night before
the actual race, he was very careful about the food that he ate, what he put into
his body and how much sleep he got. It is kind of a routine or custom that the
athlete engages himself before a performance. The same thing applies to a
singer. There are things that are not good for our voices and also there are
things that are very good. Those things that make us sing improperly are
enemies to our voices, whereas, those things that enhance our singing are
friends to our voices.

YOUR VOICE AND ITS ENEMIES

Know that life is full of obstruction. As much as we want to make progress in

life, there are always adversaries that will not want us to make a head way. Our
voices are not exempted. Our voices also have those obstacles. Any time we
want to produce the natural voices we have, there are always things that would
want to block the free flow of those excellent voices. So, note generally that,
the enemies of our voices are those things that will be hard on our
voices; that will dry up our vocal cords or probably cause phlegm on
our throats. These enemies of our voices are not living things, so we
can not kill them. The only way we can conquer them, is to avoid them,
so that our voices can be safe, and come out alive and excellently the
way God has designed it. They are not demons neither are they
principalities, they are majorly what we eat and drink! Let’s reveal them.
DAIRY PRODUCTS: These may include for instance yogurt, and so on. Avoid
dairy Products. They are dangerous to our voices, especially on the day of your
performance and probably a day prior to your performance. Dairy products tend
to cause phlegm. Phlegm is the thick jelly-like substance produced in the nose
and throat especially when one has a cold. Have you ever felt that feeling of
having a frog in your throat? Probably it is because of dairy products, but if that
is not a problem to you then do not worry about it.
ICE: Avoid ice generally. Ice may freeze your vocal cords, and that’s not what
you need before singing.
SODAS: Avoid sodas, beer and other carbonated beverages. The bubbles from
the carbonated beer or beverages tend to cause phlegm on our vocal cords.
CAFFEINE: Caffeine is a chemical substance put in a tea or coffee to serve as a
Stimulant to people. Avoid tea or coffee that contains caffeine. Caffeine is hard
on the voice, as it constricts blood flow and that is not what you need as a
singer.
FOOD: Avoid food at least two or three hours prior to your singing time. For you
to sing very well, you need a lot of energy and concentration. When you eat a
big meal, your energy is split in half. Half is going to digest the food and half to
your singing and what you will probably be doing is breathing deeply and a bit
tired and yawning. Definitely that is not what a singer wants.

YOUR VOICE AND ITS FRIENDS

Just as enemies are forces preventing our progress, friends are in other hands,
forces enhancing our progress. In as much as our voices have enemies that does
not want them to sound good, they also have friends that enhance them to
sound as excellently as they can. Let us discuss them as follows:
WATER: This is the most important thing you need to take in regular intervals
as a singer. Drink lots of water! I want you to think of your vocal cord as a big
sponge, when a sponge is full of water, it can be used nicely but when the
sponge is dry, it’s very brittle and it’s not very useful at all. So our vocal cords
need a lot of water. Make sure the temperature of the water is warm before you
drink, because that is the best for our voices.
WARM TEA: Warm tea is excellent for the voice. Make sure the warm tea you
take does not contain caffeine.
HONEY: Take honey on regular basis. It washes the vocal cord and cleans all
phlegm on the throat.

So note that, all voices are melodious and excellent if treated properly
and used in agreement with the played notes.
 CHAPTER IV

BREATHING
A lot can be said about breathing. It is basically the life’s source; without breath
there is no life. So it is in music. Without breath there is no singing. It is the
breath that comes out and flows out of our vocal cord that enables us to
produce sound.
It is vital that you take in large volume of air into your lungs, before you start
any line of song, because the volume of air you take in into your lungs
area determines how effective you will hold your notes. Most people
fluctuate in songs and singing off-key probably because they did not take in
large volume of air into their lungs before they started the lines of the songs. So
you need your belly area full of air to hold notes in order to sing
properly. Here we will be learning the proper way to breathe when singing.

Now you have to make sure that you relax especially the area around your vocal
cords, your neck, your shoulders and your jaws. Before we go into the breathing
exercises we will first of all go through some relaxation exercises. One common
mistake amongst singers is breathing with their shoulders, they think that by
lifting their shoulders and taking in a deep breath into their lungs area, is going
to enhance their singing, but that’s not true.
Make sure that your shoulders are nice and free, loose and hanging down, when
taking a deep breath in and out.
The area we will be concentrating on, for our breathing is the tummy area, the
whole region of our belly, the diaphragm, and our lower back. By filling them
full of air, we get the best result for our singing. The lungs will basically
take care of themselves when we breathe in properly.

EXERCISE I
RELAXATION PATTERN
Go ahead and find a nice comfortable place on the floor, lying down is much
better. Put a pillow under your head and face upward to the ceiling, concentrate
and relax for twenty seconds. Squeeze the muscles on your legs, very tight and
then relax. Take your arms and flex all the muscles in your arms, just make
them nice and rigid, then relax, as you relax breathe out through your mouth.
This is the most relaxing method.
Go ahead now and squeeze your shoulders, take your shoulders up and tight,
then relax. Then your jaw area, I want you to open your month up wide and roll
it round and round then relax. Place one hand on your belly area, and breathe in
through your nose, you should feel your belly expanding real far. And out
through your mouth as you are exhaling. ‘Like you want to make a kind of kiss
lips motion with your lips’. Breathe in through your nose and exhale through
your mouth, ten times and then relax.
Note that, if you breathe in through your nose, it’s not going to dry up
your mouth, but if you breathe in through your mouth, it’s going to dry
up your mouth. So in singing, you do not breathe in through your
mouth. You breathe in through your nose and exhale through your
mouth as you sound out the words of the song.

If your nose is a bit stuffy when breathing in through your nose, and out
through your mouth, boil some water, pour it in a large glass or plastic cup,
place your nose on the cup, to allow the steam of the hot water to go into the
passage of your nose as you breathe in through your nose and out through your
mouth. Do it over and over until the passage of your nose is free.

EXERCISE II
BELLY-CHEST PATTERN
In this pattern I call belly-chest pattern, all you have to do is just put one hand
on your belly and one hand on your chest directly on your lungs area. Now
breathe in into the belly, and lungs and then exhale from the lungs and exhale
from the belly in that order. Think of yourself like a glass of water, as you pour
the water into the glass, it’s going to fill from the bottom up, as you empty the
glass by pouring out the water, it’s going to empty from the top down. So in
singing, as you take in air through your nose, it fills from the bottom of your
stomach and expands it far, but as you sing out the words of the song through
your mouth it’s going to empty from the top down. This is a wonderful analogy
you must remember in the pattern of the Belly-Chest exercise.
PRACTICAL:
* Take big breath in into the belly:
Keep your belly on hold
* Take big breath in into the lungs
Keep your belly on hold
* Exhale from the lungs
* And exhale from the belly.
Please do it over and over in that order
 EXERCISE III
BELLY-CHEST 10 COUNTS
In this pattern of belly-chest ten counts, you will use the same breathing pattern
you just learnt. However, you are going to breathe in for ten seconds, Hold for
ten seconds, exhale for ten seconds and hold for another ten seconds with no
breathing. This pattern helps you to build up your breathing stamina.

PRACTICAL
* Breathe in into the belly (1-2-3-4-5)
* Breathe in into the lungs (6-7-8-9-10)
* Hold breath (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10)
* Exhale lungs first (1-2-3-4-5)
* Exhale belly (6-7-8-9-10)
* And Hold (No breathing) (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10)

The above breathing exercises will enhance your singing stamina if

done accurately and persistently.
 CHAPTER V
VOCAL TECHNIQUE
This segment has to do with how you can use your vocal cord or voice when
singing. Here we are going to cover a lot of exercises and vocal warm-ups. But
before we launch into that properly, let’s consider some important things that
enhance our singing ability.
VOCAL PLACEMENT: Vocal placement means the position of your voice before
launching into any song you want to sing. Where do you place your voice before
singing? The actual position where you place your voice determines how
effective you will be on any song you are singing. If you do not place your voice
properly, you will automatically sing improperly. Now let’s say I am teaching you
with a keyboard, and I wanted to show you how to place your fingers on the
keys, that will be very easy because you can see my fingers right before your
eyes on the keys. But with singing it is practically different because, you can not
actually see inside my voice, to see where the voice can be placed. So it
becomes a little bit confusing to understand the proper place the voice can be
placed. Therefore, I am going to teach you by ‘feel’. What I mean by ‘feel’ is
how does it feel when your voice is placed in the proper position and how does it
feel when you are placing your voice improperly. This is one of the keys to vocal
instructions.
So the big question is where do we place our voices? And the big answer is
we place our voices in the mask of our faces. Does it come as a surprise to
you? It should, but that is the truth.
I want you to picture your nose like a big Rhinocero’s Horns, as silly as that may
sound right? But never mind. As you place your voice up in that cavity (the nasal
cavity) in the nose, you will feel no stress or strain on your vocal cords, and it
tends to be very rich for deep sound. Like you want to make a ‘huh’ sound.
When you place your voice in the wrong position, that is, down on your vocal
cords, you will have a pinch feeling down into your neck and throat area which
will make you have fatigue very quickly. The quality that will come out of your
voice will be such a pinch sound, so that it is not falling and rising into the range
smoothly. That is what is commonly called off-key amongst musicians.
To illustrate this, throw your neck backward so that the top of your nose points
up to the sky, then go ahead and say something about the weather condition
today. Continue to make the announcement a little bit with your nose pointed to
the sky for sixty seconds or more like; winners’ voice listen to this special
announcement, the weather condition today is very unfriendly. I think
it is going to rain in a short while, let us rehearse very quickly and go
home, even though it’s not up to 6.00 pm.
You should be feeling a placement on your throat, on your vocal cords that is
not comfortable, and it’s probably pinch sounding.
Now I want you to launch your neck down so that your nose is pointed to the
ground, and make sure your neck is nice and relaxed.
Now say something about the weather again, like; winners’ voice listen to
this special announcement, the weather condition today is very
unfriendly. I think it’s going to rain in a short while, let us rehearse
very quickly and go home, even though it’s not up to 6.00 pm.
Now you should be feeling a kind of buzz feeling into your nose, or what I would
like to say it’s now becoming your Rhino’s Horns. Please note, do not get
nervous at this point if you are not feeling that sensation, that kind of vibrating
buzz feeling in the mask of your face right before your eyes.
You will understand it better when we get to the vocal exercises. This is proper
vocal placement. So, you sing properly when you sing from your
imaginary Rhino’s Horns, whereas, you sing improperly when you sing
from your vocal cords.
BODY POSITION: Let’s consider proper body position. The main thing you
need to remember is to stay relaxed. You do not need any tightness especially
around your singing areas, such as the throat, the neck, the jaws and the
shoulders. You need that whole area to be loose and free. One thing you must
watch is your shoulder breathing, make sure that your shoulders are not rising
when you take a deep breath.
OPEN MOUTH POSITION: As much as our mouth is concerned in singing, we
want a wide open mouth position. Most people do a close mouth position when
singing. The close mouth position in singing is not very good at all.
So when you are singing open your month wide, you may be feeling your mouth
is very huge but that is not true. Look at yourself in the mirror when you do it,
you will be surprised that you look totally normal and natural.
Even if you did look a bit strange, who cares? If your singing comes alive, that is
what your audience will hear and are interested in. They are interested in the
beautiful voice that comes out and not actually the beauty of your face. The
most important thing in music is what you sound like and not what you
look like.
HEAD POSITION: This has to do with our heads position before singing. It is a
very good idea to have our heads slightly total down to foster a full placement in
our voices. You may have seen some singers on stage, as they really set into a
song, perhaps they are coming into an area that is difficult or perhaps, that is
hard for them to hit those notes, you will see them kind of bend over their waist,
and launch over their heads down a little bit, for them to hit the right notes.
Well, part of that is for show, but the other part is for the proper vocal
placement to occur as they are trying to hit those upper notes. That is a real
good trick for you, remember that.
HAND POSITION: You can put your hands behind your back or in front of you
or even by the side to fall loose beside your laps. Be careful not to let your
shoulder rising up to cause stress on your voice.
TONGUE PLACEMENT: Generally speaking, the tongue flaps all around your
mouth depending on the word you are singing. But basically here, the tongue
should be positioned behind the bottom teeth, resting down in there when you
open up your mouth.
ENUNCIATION: This is also very important in singing. It has to do with how
clearly you pronounce words in a song. It is recommended that you enunciate or
pronounce each word clearly. You will be really surprised at the different sounds
made, especially when it comes to recording.

MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE
This is the relationship between you and your microphone. It has to do with how
you relate your voice to your microphone. How friendly you are to your
microphone when singing determines the quality of vocal sound you will
produce.
One thing that is worthy of note here is that, your microphone produces your
voice as much as the level of sound you give to it. If you are far from your
microphone your microphone will be far from you. One common mistake
amongst singers is getting very close to the microphone while taking a high
pitch. It is highly recommended that, when you get to an area of a song that
requires a high pitch, you should do well to slide your head backward a bit away
from the microphone to maintain the level of sound that goes into the
microphone.

PERFORMANCE
This is the fundamental reason for making music. Performance here has to do
with your attitude on stage, how you relate with your audience, how you
communicate the song you are singing to your audience. This aspect is very
important when it comes to music. Some singers frustrate a good song when
they come up on stage for performance, so that the interest and passion the
audience have for the song become defeated. Note that, songs are properly
explained on stage. When performing a song on stage, it is crucial to project the
meaning of the lyrics through your body act. By so doing, the audience will be
left with no option than to be buried in the song. When you are on stage, know
that you are the master of the ceremony at the main time, so any where you
drive your audience to, they must follow.

OFF-KEY AND OFFBEAT

To properly understand the words off-key and offbeat, you must be grounded
in the knowledge of musical instruments. Which musical instrument guards the
key of songs and which one guards the beat?

Musical instruments basically are divided into two sections, namely; The
Percussion instruments and The Keyboard instruments.
The Percussion instruments are those musical instruments that are played by
being struck with a drumstick. They do not dictate the key of the song to be
played. For instance, drum, conga, tambourine etc.
Whereas the Keyboard instruments are those musical instruments that are
played on keys. For instance keyboard. They also involve both stringed
instruments like guitar, violin, harp, etc.
They dictate the keys in which songs are sung or produced.
With the above fundamental knowledge, we will go ahead to discuss what ‘Off-
key’ and ‘Offbeat’ are.

OFF-KEY
The keyboard instruments govern the key aspect of music as discussed above.
You must have heard people say ‘guy you are singing off-key’ or ‘hey girl, you
are off-key’! Or you must have heard the word Off-key amongst singers or
keyboardists. It is common amongst growing singers. They mostly fall
victim of singing off-key. Most time the singer will accuse the keyboardist of
failing to play on the key he or she is singing on. And in other hand, the
keyboardist will blame the singer on failing to sing on the key he or she is
playing on. The big question here is, what is off-key? Who goes off-key? The
keyboardist or the singer?
It is important here to note that, musical instrument is an accompaniment to the
song we sing. Accompaniment simply means supporter. That means musical
instruments support the singing voice to achieve the song. No instrument is
permitted to be heard above the voice. What is meant here is that the voice of
the singer should always be heard on top of the musical instruments. This does
not mean that they will not be in harmony. It is not musical for the instruments
to overshadow the voices.
Now, what is Off-key? Off-key simply means not singing on the right key being
played or not playing on the right key being sung. This is the most common
challenge amongst singers. The problem is, some do not realize when they are
not on key. The question that should be on your mind right now should be, how
do I know I am singing off-key? Be reminded that, we mentioned it when
treating vocal placement, above. We mentioned that, you will notice it by ‘feel’.
This analogy will help you answer that question. Consider yourself a
motorcyclist, who happens to ply on a bumpy road, you will discover that the
sound of the motorcycle will change so that it will be rising and falling in
response to how it hits the bumpy road. And you will discover that your riding
will not be smooth. Then consider yourself plying on a smooth road, you will
discover that the sound of the motorcycle will be very steady and progressing,
so that it will no more rise and fall unevenly. As such your ride will be smooth.
Any time you are singing a song and your voice is not smooth on the sound of
the keyboard or it is no more blending with the smooth rise and fall of the sound
you hear from the keyboard, so that you are no more singing smoothly, know
that you are singing off-key. Just like the sound of the motorcycle on the
unsmooth road.
But any time you are singing a song and your voice is smooth on the sound of
the keyboard and it’s blending with the equal rise and fall of the keyboard, know
that you are on key! Just like the sound of the motorcycle on the smooth road,
very steady and smooth going. When you are on key there will be no stress on
your voice.
This parallel will help you dictate when you are singing off-key and on key.

OFFBEAT
Offbeat means not in coincidence or harmony with the beat. This part is
governed by percussion instruments. That is the drum, conga, etc. As you
launch into any song make sure you land on the beat the Percussionists are
playing. A Percussionist is a person who plays Percussion instruments in music.
Such as a Drummer, etc. Good listening ear is of vital importance in singing
because, you sing on what you hear. Therefore, a good singer should
also be a good listener.

If you are able to dictate when you are off-key and when you are offbeat and
you are able to put your voice on key and on beat, I assure you, singing is as
simple and stress free like ABC.
 CHAPTER VI
VOCAL WARM-UPS
This is the most important segment in this our course of study, because this
area has to do with the practical aspects of singing. No proper warm-ups; No
good performance. Since singing is more of practical than theory, we have to
be very careful and attentive to master these warm-up exercises so as to
enhance our singing ability.

Warming up your voice is extremely very important. I want to make an analogy

of the sprinter again, the sprinter don’t just go out and start running the race
before he warms up. Any Athlete for that matter must engage himself in series
of stretches, warm ups and all that, before he gets into the actual game.
The same thing applies to us as singers. It is proper and very essential for a
singer to engage in serious vocal warm ups before he launches into any singing
adventure.
I want you to think of your whole voice box area, the whole of your vocal
mechanism as a big muscle, and the better you treat it the better it is going to
work for you. If you follow the following vocal warm up exercises, your voice will
never remain the same again trust me.

MORO-BOLT EXERCISE
This is the mother and the top of the warm up exercises, because it puts the
voice in the proper singing position. There is no way you can do the Moro-bolt
and still sing improperly.
Be reminded again that improper singing is singing on your vocal cords.
While proper singing is singing in your imaginary Rhino’s Horns area,
we have treated on Vocal Placement in chapter v.
In doing the Moro-bolt, you have to put your lips together and blow out a nice
full air through your lips, and just let your lips flutter. Increase the Moro-bolt
from a low note to a higher note over and over.
* HUM AND SLIDE EXERCISE
* WEE-WEE-WEE EXERCISE
* YI-YE-YO-YA EXERCISE
* MEE-MEE-MEE EXERCISE
* MA-MEH-MI-MO-MU EXERCISE

To learn the practical exercises of the above vocal warm-ups, contact the
author.
 SINGING VOICE
Knowing the voice we sing is very important in singing. Perfecting the voice
gives us a good stand in any song we launch into. Our ability to combine the
different voices uniformly determines the effectiveness of the song we present.
The Singing voice is primarily classified into the following:
 Alto singing voice
 Tenor singing voice
 Soprano singing voice
 Bass singing voice
 Treble singing voice